"...I
am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring
the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet
done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:"Isaiah 46:9,10

I.Introduction

As
you read and study the word of God, you undoubtedly will come across many
Scriptures that refer to future events. These passages are called prophetic,
and are very precious to the Christian because they clearly demonstrate that our
God has everything under control, and all things will work out just as He has
planned! Nothing will surprise the Lord! He knows the end from the beginning (Rev 22:13). On top of that, He has revealed all of important
history and future events in one unique, supernatural Book (1Cor
2:9,10; 2Pet 1:20,21)! In this lesson we will briefly study the
incredible subjects of heaven, hell,
and the future!

II.A Look At Heaven

A.There are three Heavens. See
2 Cor 12:2-4 where Paul went to the third
heaven.

1.First Heaven - Genesis
1:6-9 "And God called the firmament
Heaven..."
This firmament (the earth's atmosphere) consists of air, and the clouds.

2.Second Heaven - Genesis 1:14-17. The second heaven is filled with the planets,
stars, comets, supernovas and nebulas that are outside our atmosphere, and yet
do not reach to God.

3.Third Heaven - This is where God dwells (Matt 6:9; Ps
113:4,5). It is not anywhere
near this planet (Acts 7:48,49). It is where
born again believers go when they die or are taken to at the time of the rapture
(1 Thes 4:15-17; John 14:1-3).

B.The qualities and characteristics of Heaven

1.Heaven is a real place (Rev 4:1-3; Col 3:1,2). It is not a "state of mind," or
state of “non-existence” (ie, Buddhist “nirvana”)

2.It is a holy place (Ps
20:6). "Now I know that the LORD
saveth his anointed; He will hear him from his ________ heaven…"

3.Heaven is a joyful place (Luke
15:7,10). There is joy among the __________ over sinners that repent.

4.Heaven is a place of no trouble.
It has no death, sorrow or pain, "And there shall be no more
death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any ___________, for
the former things are passed away" (Rev
21:4).

5.Its size is immeasurable (Jer
31:37)

6.Our place in Heaven is in a city
(Heb 11:16) called the ________ Jerusalem (Rev
21:15-27). A furlong is 1/8 mile. So, it is 1,500 by 1,500 by 1,500
miles! Truly, there is a lot of room there!

III.What About Hell?

Definition:
The Bible defines hell as a place
where the devil, his angels, and unbelieving persons will spend eternity. They
will suffer eternal punishment and separation from the saved, and from God.
There are 162 references to hell in the New Testament alone, which speaks of the
doom that awaits the unbeliever and over 70 of these references were made by
Jesus himself! References include: Isa 5:13,14; Mt
13:41,42; 5:29,30; 10:28; 11:23,24; 16:18; Jam 3:6; Rev 20:13,14.

A.Why did God create Hell?

God
created hell because He is a righteous and holy God and can not allow sin
in his Heaven. Since all men are sinners, Jesus came into the world to save man
from hell's punishment by living a perfect sinless life, die a substitutionary
death, be buried and then raised by God. All this so that sinners could receive
the free gift of eternal life (Rom 6:23) and
have free access to heaven. It is by Jesus' finished
work on the cross that sinners such as you and I are allowed into Heaven.
Unfortunately, those who do not accept Christ's gift and trust completely in Him
are destined to go to hell because they are still in their sins (John
3:18,36; 1 Cor 15:16,17). Therefore, hell was created for Satan, his
angels, and unsaved persons (Mt 25:41; Rev 20:10).

B.Characteristics of Hell (Read Luke
16:19-31)

1.It is REAL. It has a location, and effect on all who dwell in it.

2.It is _____________ (Rev 14:11) - it is
for ever, like heaven

3.It is a place of ________ (Luke 16:24)
- not annihilation (Mt 23:33).

4.It is a place of darkness, pain, suffering, and isolation (Jude
7).

5.It is bottomless (Rev 9:2)! It has no
bottom, only sides!

6.Those who died in Sodom and Gomorra are STILL suffering the “______________ of eternal fire”
in hell (Jude 1:7).

7.Everyone in hell is a would-be soul-winner (Lk
16:27,28)!

8.It is an unnecessary place for people if only they will put their
complete faith and trust in Christ's all sufficient death on the cross - it was
only made for the devil and his angels, not for any human!

9.Therefore, hell it is NOT the grave, but a horrible place that no man
should go to, and from which Jesus died to save people from!

C.Where is Hell?

This
lake of fire (molten lava) is somehow
below us, IN the earth (Isa
14:12,15; Mt 12:40). Ephesians 4:9
states that Jesus __________ into the centre of the earth before he arose.

D.How Long Will The Lost Be In Hell?

1.The Bible says that all in hell will be there for ________ (Rev
20:10).

2.Will God give persons in hell an opportunity to escape; a second chance?
_____ When is the opportunity for people to be saved from hell (2
Cor 6:1,2)? ________. Let us get busy reaching the lost by preaching the
gospel of salvation now, while people have the chance! This is God’s reason for
Christianity's existence - to warn the
lost!

E.Jesus died to save sinners from Hell! Jesus did not come only to
bring sinners to a wonderful place called Heaven, but more importantly, to save
them from the real place called Hell (John 3:16)!
A person needs to get saved TODAY because tomorrow
may be too late (2Cor 6:1,2)!

IV.A Brief Outline of Coming Future Events - What's
Ahead For the Universe? God created this universe
(Gen 1:1) and for sure God will end it (2Pet 3:10,11)!
The study of the future comes mainly from Revelation, Daniel and Isaiah.

A.The Soon Rapture (catching
away) of true Christians to heaven

B.The Seven Years of Tribulation (terrible trouble)

C.The Second Coming of Jesus Christ - at the battle of Armageddon

D.The Millennial Kingdom of Christ on Earth (1,000 year rule)

E.The End of this World - at the battle of Gog and Magog

F.The Great White Throne Judgment of all the unsaved

G.The New Heaven and New Earth

V.A Brief Study of Future Events

A.The Rapture

1.The Bible is full of prophecies related to the coming of the Messiah,
Jesus Christ, to this world. However, His coming as a baby, born in a manger,
and destined to die on a cross some 2,000 years ago, did not
fulfill one-fourth of the prophecies. The remaining prophecies relate to a second
coming where He, as King of Kings would reign on earth. When He comes the second
time, He comes in two parts. The first part is referred to as the
Rapture, or the "catching away" of Christians!

2.Let's examine the following Scriptures:

a.1 Thes 4:13-18Refers to it as being "caught-up"

b.Phil 3:20,21Called a "changing" of bodies

c.John 14:1-3Called a "receiving" of the church

d.1 Cor 15:51,52It all happens "in the
____________ of an eye"

3.This is not the only Rapture in
the Bible. Others include:

a.Gen 5:21-24; Heb 11:5_________________________

b.2 Kings 2:11_________________________

4.There are pictures of the
Rapture throughout Scripture:

Gen
19:15,16,22

____
being pulled out of Sodom before judgment fell

Gen
7-9

____
being protected from the judgment of the flood

5.The Rapture involves the following components:

a.Listening for a shout and the sound of a trumpet (only Christians
will hear this).

b.Looking for Jesus to break through the clouds (visible only to
Christians - Titus 2:11-13).

c.All the unsaved will be left behind under a one world government, lead by the anti-christ with a
one-world religion, and a one-world currency forming a cash-less society as seen
in Rev 13:11-18. (The anti-christ will be
leading the world against God and Israel).

B.The Tribulation

1.This is a seven year period of troublesome time that will begin right
after the Rapture of Christians. During this time period, the antichrist (the Beast) will appear and take over the world (Rev
13:1-9), at least two more world-wars will break out, the Jews will be
persecuted again, and there will be plagues and sufferings like there have never
been (Mt 24:21)! It is referred to as ______
trouble (Jer 30:7). It is directed at the
Jews, to get them to repent, and at the world, to judge it. There are no
Christians now living who will go through the Tribulation (1Thes 5:9)!

2.Some Tribulation events and their Scriptures to look up:

a.The Abomination of Desolation
(Matt 24:15-22) The antichrist will set
himself up as ____ on the throne of
the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies of the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem (2
Thes 2:3,4).

b.The judgments on this world during the time of the Tribulation will
include: the antichrist ruling a one-world ruthless government, a great
persecution of the Jews, genocide of entire races of people, a mixture of fire
and hail raining down on humanity, a meteor and comet impacting the earth, the
Sun and Moon darkened, a plague of locusts, the sea and rivers becoming blood,
the Sun will nova, and darkness covering the earth! Whew!

c.The 144,000 witnesses (Rev
7:1-8; 14:1-5) who will boldly testify of the Gospel during the
Tribulation. Note that these are male, virgin Jews, and not
people from the Jehovah's Witnesses!

3.While all that is happening on the earth, the following events up in
heaven are occurring:

a.Christians are receiving their rewards
for service (2 Cor 5:10; 1 Cor 3:10-15). This
is called the Judgment Seat of Christ.

b.Then follows a grand feast called the Marriage
Supper when Christians will be united with Jesus Christ in heaven (Rev
19:1-9)

C.The Second Coming of Jesus Christ (Rev
19:11-15) - Armageddon

As
far as sinners are concerned, the most important subject in the Bible is that of
Salvation, and Jesus Christ's first
coming as Saviour to die on the cross. Yet, as far as God is concerned, the most
important subject is Jesus Christ's second
coming as Sovereign King to literally rule and reign on earth for 1000 years
with Satan defeated, and paradise RESTORED.

This
"day"
is THE MOST discussed topic in the Bible. It is the day when good finally wins
over evil; when everything that is wrong is made right; when God personally
takes care of the Devil! This "day" is always referred to in the Bible
as a BATTLE with great devastation and calamity. It is called, the day of the Lord (Joel 1:15;
2:1,2)!

1.This battle takes no more that 24 hours to complete!

2.The battle involves burning up the ___________
(Mal 4:1-3)

3.The battle will be fought in Armageddon,
the Valley of Jehosephat (Rev 16:16; Joel 3:9-16;
see also Micah 4:3).

4.The battle is in reaction to Jerusalem being taken over by the antichrist
(Zech 14:1-9).

5.The "deceiver" of the world (the antichrist) will be captured
and "cast alive into the
__________" (Rev 19:20), Satan himself
will follow later.

PRINCIPLE: THERE WILL BE NO PEACE ON EARTH UNTIL THE PRINCE OF PEACE
COMES AND BY A FINAL DECISIVE BATTLE, BRINGS REAL PEACE!!!

D.The Millennial (1,000 year) Kingdom (Rev
20:1-4). Christ will rule and reign on the earth for 1,000 years. There
will be real peace on this earth. Paradise (Isaiah
11:4-9)! Satan will be bound in Hell for the duration (Rev
20:1,2). The saints will rule and reign with
Christ on the earth at this time (Luke 19:12-27; 1
Cor 6:1-3).

E.The End of this World - Battle of Gog and Magog (Rev
20:7-11). In the Millennium, man has been allowed to return to paradise,
and yet, he will desire to go back to his "old ways", just as the
children of Israel wanted to "go back to Egypt!" It is here that Satan
will do his finalé by leading a final rebellion at the end of the 1,000
years. He will fail, and then will finally, and completely be cut off from ever
"infecting" this universe again.

F.The Great White Throne Judgment (Rev
20:11-15). It is here that all of humanity, from wicked Cain (Gen
4:8; 1John 3:12) up through those born in the Millennium who rejected
God's salvation, will stand before God. At this judgment, all the unsaved will
give an account of their "works" to see how well they match up with
Christ's work on the cross. They will realize that there is no comparison,
and will then be cast into the Lake of Fire to join their
god, while Christians will spend all eternity with their
God! A person's eternal end is determined by who their God is (Eph
2:1-7).

G.The New Heaven, New Earth, and New Jerusalem (Rev
21:1-3, 22:1-5)! No longer will God be separated from man because of sin!
The barriers between heaven and earth are done away, and God and man will
forever be together in a new universe not infected with sin! The new earth will
be perfect and eternal, and the New Jerusalem will be the Christian's home for
ever, full of mansions with room for everyone (John
14:2,3)!

V.What Should We Do While We Are Waiting For Jesus to
Come Back?

A.Realize that Jesus could return right now! So we should live for him
100%.

B.Ask God to use you to save your relatives, and to make you a soul winner!

C.Look forward to Christ's Return!

1.Paul said in 2 Tim 4:8 "Henceforth
there is laid up for me a _______ of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous
judge shall give me at that day and not to me only, but unto all them also that
love his _________."